A multitude of checking devices are known in the prior art which retain a door such as a vehicle door in relation to a frame.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,043,976 issued on Jun. 9, 1936 to Schonitzer describes a door checking device having contained therein opposed ball members 30 contained in a cage means 31 as best seen in relation to FIG. 3. The ball members 30 are freely rotatable in the cage.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,268,942 issued on Jan. 6, 1942 to Jacobs describes a door check device as illustrated in relation to FIG. 3 having two rubber springs 14 retained in a housing 12. Associated with each spring is a retaining plate 16 having a socket 17 for receiving a ball bearing 18. The ball bearings are free to rotate in their respective sockets and therefore have rolling contact with an arm 7. The arm 7 is made from metal. It has a spring steel construction as seen best in FIG. 3.
Great Britain Patent Specification 1,505,703 published on Mar. 30, 1978 describes in two intermediate detent notches set in the opposing edges of a blade arm in order to allow a partially open position for the vehicle door.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,772,054 issued on Sep. 20, 1988 to Schreiber describes a check device including balls which are placed in relation to a spring mechanism having therebetween intermediate plates upon which the balls 13 and 14 engage. These intermediate plates 26 and 27 may be coated with plastic material in order to reduce the static friction between the ball bearings and these plates. Nowhere is it mentioned that the guide tracks 16 and 17 are formed from such resilient plastic materials.
Referring now to Great Britain Patent Application 2,160,584 disclosed by Morris and published on Dec. 24, 1985 there is disclosed a pair of rollers disposed within plastic roller carriers 8 as illustrated in relation to FIG. 1, having a housing 1 which are backed by confined rubber blocks 14.
French Patent Application 2,571,416 now issued following publication of the application on Apr. 11, 1986 to Yves Le Roy describes a door checking device having ball bearing means contained therein as best seen in relation to FIG. 2 and FIG. 3. A sliding bracket made of spring steel is provided which in cooperation with the spring steel check arm 2, as best seen in FIG. 1, provides an upper and a lower race within which the ball bearings will ride. However the structure includes the use of a sliding bracket 10 which has a groove having detents A2 and B2 therewith which work in cooperation with the detents A1 and B1 of the check arm 2. Nowhere within this publication is there taught the use of a check arm alone without the sliding bracket, the arm having grooves formed therewith and detents formed with the grooves which retains the ball in the groove without the need of a sliding bracket. Nowhere within the prior art is there found a checking mechanism which includes a link arm which is easily formed and yet includes all of the necessary detent recesses and cam surfaces.
Modern car door geometry and motion during opening and closing often dictates the need for a curved check arm to accommodate the motion of the door. However in providing a curved check arm in the checking mechanism the advantages of a straight check arm with all the forces resolved through the pivot and the ball are lost. Therefore in the necessity of providing the curved check arm a force coupling is introduced into the assembly which must be counteracted.
Nowhere within the prior art is there found a checking mechanism which includes a link arm which is easily formed and yet includes all of the necessary detent recesses and cam surfaces.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a check mechanism which includes a link arm moveable to a predetermined number of positions wherein the link arm includes at those positions detents which were formed by coating a core with moldable material.
It is another object of this invention to provide a mechanism which operates silently.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a check mechanism which includes a link arm moveable to a predetermined number of positions wherein the link arm includes at those positions detents which retain the door at predetermined positions.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a checking mechanism which includes a curved check arm, and a check mechanism, which restrains the check arm from moving laterally.
Further and other objects of this invention will become apparent to a man skilled in the art when considering the following summary of the invention and the more detailed description of the preferred embodiment illustrated herein.